Reinforced Shoes (Early Tankiness): Great early protections can be considered when facing a strong early-game enemy team, and you anticipate high aggression.

Defensive Aura Items
Notes Standard Support items:

Sovereignty (Anti-Physical): Provides great physical protection and health sustain for you and nearby teammates. Choose before Gauntlet if highest incoming damage is physical and you want higher health sustain.

Heartward Amulet (Anti-Magical): The converse of Sov, and is good if facing 3 magical enemies, or both ADC & Support are magical and you're looking for an early counter. This is the item you can most easily substitute with other items.

Gauntlet of Thebes (Balanced Protections): Great balanced protections, with some health and health sustain. Needs stacking from minion & god kill assists. Can be picked up early, but is okay to pick up later in a build, as it shouldn't take long to stack and provides very solid stats.

Sovereignty

Heartward Amulet

Gauntlet of Thebes

Offensive Aura Items
Notes Choose these items with intent to help secure early kills, provide increased team damage, and add offensive oomph.

Jade Emperor's Crown (Early Lane Aggression): Get this early in place of Sovereignty to put high pressure on a physical ADC (or physical Duo combo). You need to be aggressive and in the enemy's face to make this worthwhile.

Void Stone (Magical Team Damage Boost: Takes away 20 magical protections from nearby enemies. Best if you have more magical teammates, but you can make use of this in any situation.

Shogun's Kusari (Team Basic Attack Boost): Great if you have multiple basic attackers on your team. Also highly functional for taking down towers and phoenixes quickly.

Pythagorem's Piece (General Offensive Aura): Provides a boost in power AND lifesteal for ALL nearby teammates. Provides CDR and health for you, which makes it a great hybrid Support item.

Jade Emperor's Crown

Void Stone

Shogun's Kusari

Pythagorem's Piece

CDR + Protection Items
Notes Tanky items that also provide CDR; useful later in a match for higher ability use:

Utility Items
Notes Utility items with a variety of functions:

Emperor's Armor (Objective Aggression / Defense): Strategic objective-based item for the mid-game. Helps you take less damage if attacking objectives, and increases objective DPS against enemies.

Hide of the Urchin (Effective Health Boost): Provides good balanced protections, health, and mana. The regenerating shield is a bonus.

Relic Dagger (High Utility / Relic Use): Great balanced stats for a Support, with CDR for relics. Choose those relics carefully so you can get the most out of them.

Stone of Gaia (Huge Health Sustain): A huge health pool combined with high HP5 allow you to stay out for extended times without having to back due to low health.

Talisman of Energy (Early / Mid Rotation Pressure): An option for enhanced group rotation speed, and great when you're with basic attackers.

Oni Hunter's Garb (Teamfight Damage Mitigation): Provides magical protection, but equally importantly, when you're near enemies, it provides up to 9% damage mitigation. This is calculated BEFORE normal protections so is a great tank item, and is also the best defense against true damage.

Emperor's Armor

Hide of the Urchin

Relic Dagger

Stone of Gaia

Talisman of Energy

Oni Hunter's Garb

Relics to Consider
Notes These are all relics helpful for Ganesha, with a variety of effects:

Heavenly Wings (Chase / Escape): Almost a core first relic option. Great function to counter slows, with a boost in move speed to help chase down fleeing enemies or escape a dangerous situation. Candidate for early upgrade, to help your ADC outbox the enemy with a Fatalis effect.

Belt of Frenzy (Teamfight / Objective Offense): Provides an increase in damage and attack speed to help in teamfights or to quickly take down objectives.

Example Build (Damage Support)
Notes Example build with a direct eye set on gaining an advantage in god fights. Reinforced Shoes sets the tone for absorbing damage you'll take being aggressive, and offsets the somewhat mediocre protections you'll get from Stone of Binding, which is there because Ganesha can easily apply its passive to promote early aggression.

Gauntlet of Thebes after Binding provides some health and balanced protections for general tankiness. It's followed by Shogun's Kusari to help your ADC (or structure/objective takedown in general).

Anti-Basic Attack
Notes Combination of items that provide attack speed slow and anti-heal (useful against lifesteal, which is common for basic attackers).

Early Max CDR
Notes You max your CDR by the 4th item. Finish up with items as needed.

Shoes of Focus

Breastplate of Valor

Void Stone

Spirit Robe

Midgardian Mail

Oni Hunter's Garb

Early Bruiser (Replace Shoes and Stone of Binding Late)
Notes Stone of Binding and Void Stone combine for some great early penetration effect for you and teammates. Best if you have 2 other magical teammates and a more dedicated tank.

Hello everyone! My name is Branmuffin17 (PC IGN: Muffinman17, PS4 IGN: Branmuffin17), and I'm a SMITEFire moderator and casual SMITE player on PC and PS4. Welcome to my quick 'n' dirty guide for Ganesha. You can thank boogiebass and Tlaloc1050 for this one.

I'll assume you know the basic gist of gameplay in the various modes. If you want further details, I invite you to check out my other guides:

The
Overarching
Conquest Guide

The
Overarching
Arena Guide

This is his best skin by far. The Voice Pack is AMAZING.

Play This While Reading...Trust Me

Ganesha is a unique Support god, and is suited particularly for the true Supports at heart. You'll get very few kills if you're playing correctly, because you gift kills to nearby teammates when you get the last hit.

He has high utility with a root / knockup, a movable cone of silence, and situational bonus damage, combining into a great, balanced kit.

I have a great relationship with Ganesha. I've been in love with his kit since release, and my wife has always loved him (the concept of the God, not the game). She's (apparently) Hindu + Buddhist, due to the Buddha and Ganesha figurines throughout our home.

When playing him, your main focus will be to ALWAYS be with your teammates, and use your abilities at opportune times to help peel, secure kills, and interrupt enemy actions. Let's give life back to music.

Abilities

Quick note on skill leveling: Early game, you'll usually focus on getting your wave-clear ( Turn of Fate) leveled. You don't necessarily have to max it first, because leveling Ohm provides lower CD and a very nice protection aura buff (albeit for less than 2 seconds) that you might appreciate.

Passive:

Good Fortune

Any time Ganesha deals a killing blow, the nearest Friendly God receives credit for the kill (Ganesha receives the rewards for an assist instead). In addition, his assist range is increased by 20 and time before he loses assist credit is increased by 5s.

Discussion: This is a passive that really changes how you can play as a Support. Granting kills (and getting assists yourself) allows you to ignore the typical "avoid last hitting" rule...yes, you even grant MINION kills to nearby teammates.

In addition, your assist range is larger than any other god, so you can be further away and still get credit.

Skill #1:

Turn of Fate

Ganesha curses his Enemies, damaging them. For each Enemy he hits (up to a maximum of 5), all Allied Gods within 55 units of Ganesha gain bonus Damage for 4 seconds (2% per stack, up to 5 stacks). CD 14 seconds.

Leveling Priority: Max this 1st / 2nd to help with wave clear.

General Use: Wave Clear / Poke / Bonus Team Damage

Discussion: This is your main WAVE-CLEAR ability. Use this on the enemy minions BEFORE your ADC uses their wave clear to have them get the bonus damage.

In teamfights, use on the team's main target to increase the damage they take.

Skill #2:

Ohm

Ganesha begins chanting and rises into the lotus position, where he is slowed slightly but can travel freely in all directions. While chanting, he silences Enemy gods in a cone in front of him and increases Protections (20/30/40/50/60) for all nearby Allied Gods. CD 14/13/12/11/10 seconds.

Leveling Priority: Max this 1st or 2nd for the reduced CD and increased protections it grants.

General Use: Control / Peel

Discussion: Use as a PREVENTATIVE by silencing enemies (possibly forcing Purification Beads) and preventing them from using abilities.

Use as a COUNTER to channeling or multi-activation abilities to either interrupt their flow, or completely cancel their abilities mid-use.

Ganesha summons the Four Great Pillars of Righteousness to imprison his Enemies. Between each pair of pillars a magical field is created, and Enemies who pass through the field take Damage, are Slowed, and have their Protections reduced for 3s.

Enemy Minions and Jungle Monsters only take 40% of this Damage.

Leveling Priority: Level this as it becomes available (generally).

General Use: Zoning / Damage

Discussion: This is mainly a CONTROL and ZONING tool. Drop it anytime you need to control an area, focus enemies, etc. You can also use it defensively (due to the potential damage and the slow) to try to create distance between the enemy and yourself / teammates.

It can also provide a surprising amount of DAMAGE, if you can keep enemies in the field. Combines well with Ohm and Remove Obstacles (more in the Ability Combos section).

Ability Combos & Gameplay Tips

Key Ability Combos

Remove Obstacles -> Ohm: After connecting with Remove Obstacles, IMMEDIATELY use Ohm to further prevent them from taking any action with an easily-applied silence. This is best when teammates are near, helping them deal more damage and preventing the enemy from using escape abilities.

Ohm ---> Remove Obstacles: The silence from Ohm can make enemies panic...they may not be able to use an ability immediately after Ohm stops. Use the silence time to close distance and immediately use Remove Obstacles as Ohm ends to further prevent them from taking action. Keep in mind that you CAN miss if they have an escape and they're quick enough.

Dharmic Pillars ---> Remove Obstacles: After activating your ult, wait for the enemy to attempt an escape through the field. With good timing, you can hit them with Remove Obstacles as they are in the midst of the field, trapping them for multiple seconds and dealing immense damage.

Further to this, you can also BODY BLOCK them if they're running toward you in an attempt to escape. Situationally, you can use the pillars as an additional wall to trap them.

Gameplay Tips

If needed, remind your ADC of the damage boost from Turn of Fate, and to hold their wave-clear ability until after you've used it.

To connect more successfully with Remove Obstacles, be patient and don't use it on an enemy close to max range. Instead, close ranks, or wait until an enemy commits to a specific action (closing on a teammate, retreating).

Try to be aware of the enemy's use of escape abilities. If you know those abilities are down, you can more successfully trap them inside Dharmic Pillars.

To get some added damage, if you know the enemy is retreating in one specific direction, you can drop Dharmic PillarsJUST IN FRONT of the enemy. As it drops, they'll hit the first field and take damage. They will then either continue inside the pillars (dropping their protections), or have to reverse direction, forcing them back toward you / teammates.

As a last resort, you can use your ult to try to help secure a Gold Fury or Fire Giant kill. It only deals 40% to objectives, but still provides a DPS boost. Your better general bet is to use your ult to ZONE the enemy out, IF you know they're only coming from one direction.

Gem of Isolation isn't bad, and can be pretty devastating in certain circumstances, especially in combination with the slow from Dharmic Pillars (though it can be jumped, so isn't a guarantee there). Also, part of Remove Obstacles will not use the slow to full advantage, because the enemy will be knocked up.

I tend to like it more on gods that can AOE multiple enemies (self explanatory), can apply ticking damage or DoTs (can make the slow last longer), or that have 4 abilities that can apply it. Some examples would be Artio, Cabrakan, Sobek, and Xing Tian. Ganesha's only quality of those that fits is his ult's AOE, which means it's not available as often...and it can be avoided.

Not to say you can't use it and have good effect...just feel that there are usually better items for him.

Mail of Renewal is just one of those items that I mostly stopped picking up after S2. The stats are nice, but it shares a lot of qualities with other items I feel provide the same things. You get a lot of health from Sov, Heart, Gauntlet, Relic, Witch, etc. CDR options are very plentiful. The thing that stands out / is unique about this item is the regen...but it just seems a bit underwhelming. If it could possibly stack, it would make it more appealing, but the fact that it just refreshes...or maybe if it was 20-25% regen. I dunno.

You and I have talked about Oni Hunter's Garb...in its 5.8 iteration, the passive is a bit more appealing. That said, in its base form it's only magical protection, and I personally like Pestilence / Genji's Guard / Void Stone better depending on what I'm looking for. Also, 6% mitigation is nice, but doesn't seem very high. It's nice that in a teamfight it can be constant, unlike Spirit Robe's situational mitigation. You should try it out and tell me how it goes =P

I ALMOST put Talisman of Energy in the utility list. I probably should. I would consider it an early/mid-game option (perhaps if you got Shoes then Gauntlet, Sov, or Jade) specifically to help with quicker rotations with your ADC if you're finding you can majorly outclear the enemy. It would be even nicer if he could clear a camp / minion wave with just his Turn of Fate...then he could throw it and keep moving. I like the concept better on Ymir for that reason. But to be honest I've never tried it on him. I think it could work.

Hey Bran, nice guide. But oh how the tables have turned, as I can critique you.

I would find it more beneficial to rush Gauntlet of Thebes because you can get the protections online faster, as well as have more survivability against the enemy support if playing well.

What's with replacing th boots so much?

In the combo part, don't forget about the Dharmic Pillars into Turn of Fate. Sice the inner area of the ult decreases protections, the damage boost to allies can completely shred enemies inside the ult area.

Lastly, why not go full tank with all aura and protection items? Because Ganesha is usually initiating fights and staying in them to take full advantage of his kit, especially Ohm, he'd need more help with that. If not full tank, then a hybrid tank item like Hide of the Urchin, so that he frees up a slot for something like Relic Dagger or even a damage item like Ethereal Staff so that his attacks hit for more and gives more kills.

Just some questions and suggestions, I really like Ganesha this season.

There are plenty of movespeed items. You can basically consider the various Shoes as almost T2 items. You don't HAVE to replace them, but there are items that offer some great alternate utility. When you get a 10% MS item, and you see good use for another item providing 10% MS, why not replace shoes?

That is a good point, but I often don't want to use the time to cast Turn of Fate after ulting, because either the enemy is going to want to escape (hence use Ohm) or try to run out (hence trap them with Remove Obstacles. It's a situational combo, but not what I would consider a "true" combo.

I consider my main build a full tank item...every item provides either protections, health, or both. Again, remember these are example builds...do as you see fit to maximize your function depending on the situation.

I don't consider Hide of the Urchin a "hybrid" item per se, as it's a full tank item, with only protections, health, and mana.

Sure, you can get Ethereal Staff if you want...I should probably add it (will do later) as an optional utility item...but I'm absolutely not going to add it as part of an example build...it's situational at best.

I think my reason for listing in the order I did was for getting the most out of a single engagement.

An early Midgardian Mail will slow enemies basic attacking, which will help your teammates better hone in on them and go for a kill. It's also nice for the early health boost to feel more comfortable wading into the midst of the enemy team.

BoV is absolutely an option at any point, and I'm just giving examples to help people with ideas of builds with specific purpose. They are not locked in stone by any means.

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